Consumer expert Jessica Gorst-Williams shares her tips on what to look out for
when taking out a travel insurance policy.

How the insurer defines different areas

Which area your destination comes under may not be as clear as you would expect. For example Castle Cover’s travel insurance in association with Insure and Go showed Ukraine with Kiev in brackets beside it as coming under Europe. This might well make a policyholder wonder if the rest of the country also comes under Europe for the purposes of the cover.

Similarly Russia had Moscow beside it in brackets. I challenged Insure and Go on this and it seems the underwriting team had been trying to define which parts of these countries fall on the European continental shelf. As a result of my comments the insurer says it accepts that this isn’t clear. It tells me it will consider claims for these destinations ie Russia and Ukraine under European policies and clarify the policy wording when it is reprinted.

Dangerous sports

Skiing or winter sports or other deemed to be dangerous activities may have a lower age limit for cover than more sober aspects of the holiday. Check this out and also what the policy defines as an activity requiring an extra premium.

Unattended items

One reader with a policy with Axa had camera equipment stolen from a suitcase which went into the hold while travelling to South Africa. In his hand baggage he had packed a new Samsung laptop computer, Bose earphones, an ipod, Kindle, electric razor and Golf Buddy distance measuring device.

Given that it was necessary to include a change of clothing and extricate the laptop each time it passed through security it was, he found, impractical to include anything else. Compared to these items his three year old refurbished Canon camera plus its accessories came a long way down the scale in terms of valuables.

Axa turned down the claim on the basis that the travel insurance does not include cover for valuable items left unattended. This includes checked in baggage. I wasn’t able to get the insurer to budge.

Lock hotel bedroom doors from the inside

One case I battled with but failed to win concerned two elderly women who were on the balcony of their hotel room. The door between their room and the corridor was not locked from the inside but I understand it was shut. Someone, I rather suspect with access to a key, sneaked in and stole a handbag. The insurer in this instance asserted the door must have been open as the room had not been broken into.

Tell the insurer at once if there is a problem

Generally it is essential to contact the medical emergency assistance company named in a policy before undertaking treatment abroad under a travel policy. One reader though had no time to do this as he was despatched in an ambulance within ten minutes of going to a doctor in Turkey and was diagnosed with pneumonia.

He contacted the insurer for the first time when he got home. My involvement led to the insurer accepting that the customer had not had time to alert it during the emergency and the bill, which was far from being extortionate, was met.

Make a mistake over a booking or checking in and it's unlikely the insurer will be picking up the tab

Penalties incurred by airlines because of failure to comply with rules are very unlikely to be covered by travel insurance. Don’t for instance arrive at an airport for a Ryanair flight without having checked in beforehand. See the airline’s terms and conditions about this (and peruse the penalties list) before setting off for the airport.

Bear in mind that some smartphones can load electronic boarding passes that can be scanned directly. Travel insurance is really pitched at reimbursing unavoidable costs emanating from unforeseeable events, although, as we all know, it doesn’t pay up for all of them.

Don't presume a policy doesn't cover something

It is easy to think something won’t be covered and not check but, while travel insurance can be disappointing, it can spring some surprises too. One aspect you might not consider claiming on your travel insurance for is pet care.

It is worth checking if a policy you have includes cancellation cover for a pet dog or cat requiring life saving treatment immediately prior to a proposed journey starting. At least one policy i checked out does this.

Or is there a benefit if say a cat or dog is ill? In this respect, for example, under HSBC’s Premier travel insurance policy, there is a benefit of £25 for each 24 hours that your cat or dog receives in-patient veterinary treatment as a result of suffering accidental injury while being cared for in the UK whilst you are on your trip. This is capped at £250 for each incident.

Also under HSBC’s Premier card travel come unused kennel, cattery or professional pet sitter fees which you have paid or legally have to pay and cannot get back up to a maximum of £250 for each insured person are also covered.